


Time After Time

by amyypond



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Good Sibling Luther Hargreeves, Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, No Incest, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Protective Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Soft Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), The Handler (Umbrella Academy) Being Creepy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-28 18:02:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20970749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyypond/pseuds/amyypond
Summary: Five lets Vanya out of the cage, only causing a second apocalypse to occur. In just a few days, Five tries to save the world the second time around.





	1. i. open cage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five lets Vanya out of the cage, but at what cost?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, and welcome to my first tua fic! i'm really excited to start writing this and i've had the idea for a while. i also have an outline of the plot, although i don't really have a strict posting schedule. five is such an interesting character and he is my son so i just had to write a fic and see where that goes! anyways, i hope you enjoyed the first chapter!

Five must have accidentally spatial jumped to the wrong place. He meant to go to the living room, where the aura is warm and somewhat inviting, so that he could relax now that the apocalypse was over. Instead, a numb atmosphere circulates through the hallway and a moldy stinge lies dense. 

Five shivers with dread at the realization as he sees that the door is slightly ajar. A stream of light lures him into the room, telling him that something isn’t quite right. The unfamiliarity of where he is behind the foyer makes him want to jump back, but he doesn’t. 

The first thing Five sees when he walks through the doorway is a huge metal cage. Inside, enclosed is his sister. She looks like she had been pounding at the window for hours, screaming soundlessly. Once she realizes that he is there, he sees her mouth his name, her eyes wells of tears. 

Five freezes in place as a million questions surface in his mind. How did she get here? A sound guess would’ve been Harold Jenkins, but if so, where is he now? He was used to knowing everything and being several steps ahead of everyone else. Unfortunately, the past week had felt like he was being forced to jump out of a car being driven at 90 miles per hour into an eternal void. 

He jumps inside the cage where metal spikes greet him, teeth bearing in a wicked smile. 

“Five? Thank god,” Vanya says tearfully. She grabs his shoulder tensely, her breathing rapid, face scared and full of fear. 

“I’m going to get you out of here, ok?” he says, materializing out of the cell with her. 

“I thought I was going to be there forever,” Vanya stammers, gesturing behind her. 

“How did you get here?” he asks.

Vanya sits down on the steps woefully and he takes a seat on the floor. A pause stills in the air. She looks at him with a trace of distress, then purses her lips and says, “Luther... he locked me up here.” 

Five furrows his eyebrows.  _ Luther.  _ But for what reason? Surely locking someone up, locking  _ their sister  _ up in a cage was not the right way to handle a problem, if there even was one. Confusion and rage all mixes together inside him. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers, meeting her eyes. “But why would he do that?”

Vanya clenches her jaw before she said, “Allison and I… we got into a fight. We were both yelling… and not really listening to each other, and I… 

“Go on,” Five says calmly. 

“My powers got out of hand and I… I hurt her but I didn’t mean to, it was an accident, I swear. I found out about them only a few days ago, and… as it turns out, I’ve had them all my life.”

“Powers?” Five asks. For all Five knows, she’s ordinary, She doesn’t have powers like the rest of them. She never had to train, never had to withstand the abuse that Reginald had put the rest of them through. Of course, Vanya’s situation was much different from Five’s and his other siblings.  _ She _ had to deal with constant neglect, people telling her that she would never be part of the Academy because they all knew that she didn’t belong there- even she knew that. And only now she figures out that she could have been part of this the entire time? 

Five only had to suffer through the polar opposite side of the spectrum-  _ knowing  _ that he could be better than what his father said that he was, overexerting his powers past the line, until the point of brink of death.

But everything that Reginald Hargreeves had made them suffer through had been far too much for any of them to endure. 

“How did you not know about them until now?” Five asks quizzically. She seems to have regained a bit of confidence judging by her facial expression, so he feels it is appropriate to ask. 

At that, he saw a glimpse of rage spill over in her eyes. “Leonard Pea- Harold Jenkins threw away my meds that kept me powerless in the first few days that we got to know each other, since he had kept the secret from me that I had powers all along. He manipulated me. And from there on, well… everything that I was capable of started to unravel.”

Harold Jenkins, the convicted murderer. Vanya looks lost for words, red circles around the rim of her eyes. She sets her hands down on her lap. 

“I- I  _ murdered  _ him.” She continues. “I know that I’m the one who slit our sister’s throat. But please, I’m begging you, don’t make me go back.”

“I won’t. I promise,” Five assures firmly.

“And… I do believe you.” Vanya’s face tilts upwards slightly in response. 

“You do?”

Five gives her a nod. “Because you’re my best friend, and I trust you,” he adds simply. 

Because things would be different now. Now, they had each other, instead of having his only option be to run away from all his childhood trauma. To be hanging onto the string between life and death itself, grasping onto the better half, the half filled with life. Five wanted to get all of his siblings out of the hellhole that they all struggled to call home and bring them into the future where they could start fresh.  _ Anew. _ He had already failed them once, now he will not fail them again,  _ ever.  _ He can't risk doing that again, not on his life. 

“Dad used to leave me here for hours when I was a kid. And… I was so afraid that would happen again. Except this time, I wouldn’t ever leave,” she scoffs. “It’s just weird how he couldn’t handle the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I guess, in a way, he was right.”

“No, Vanya, you will find your way out of this. Your power may seem dangerous now, but with practice, you  _ will _ learn to control them. Because this time, we don’t have an asshole of a father traumatizing us.  _ We _ have all  _ seven _ of us, and if we survived all of the missions that we went on as kids, I’m pretty sure we can teach our sister how to regulate what she’s truly capable of,” Five explains, facing toward her. 

Vanya gives him a small smile and a nod. “Yeah, I guess, you’re right.” 

They silently agree to find the others, heading to Allison’s room first. Vanya hesitates for a moment, saying, “is this really a good idea?” 

Five pauses. “If what your saying about how it was an accident is true, then yes.” Vanya gives a small nod, before knocking at her door. Allison opens it, her face turning into a smile. She pulls Vanya into a hug, while Five stands there, waiting. Allison gives Five a smile too, this one happy and affable. 

He peers into the room and sees Luther. He’s just sitting there, in a chair until he sees Vanya and then stands up abruptly. 

“What th- what the hell is she doing here?” 

Allison and Five’s faces are strewn with disappointment. 

“Five?” Luther asks, confrontationally, as Five and the others step into the room. 

“I got her out of the cage  _ you  _ put her in,” Five responds. “So that we can teach her how to use her powers, and not lock her away like Dad did,” he says sternly. 

“Without telling us? She’s outrageously dangerous, Five! She could’ve killed you, don’t you see that? She could’ve killed  _ all _ of us!” 

Five scoffs. He really had no idea, did he?

The room starts to tremble, and the chandeliers on the ceiling shake. “My ability is tied to my emotions,” states Vanya loudly, as she steps further into the room. “If I were in that room for long enough, that’s when I could’ve killed all of you,” she says. 

“She needs  _ our _ help, our trust,” Five says quietly. “And apparently, you can’t seem to realize that,” he adds, looking him directly in the eye. 

Luther stares off into the distance, looking defeated. “As long as you know what you’re doing,” he concludes. “But we need to take care of this now. I’ll go find Klaus and Diego, and we’re having a family meeting in the living room.”

Although Five hates family meetings, he thinks this situation calls for one. At that, Luther heads out of the room angrily to find the rest of his brothers, leaving Five with Vanya and Allison. 

“Could… could I have a few minutes to talk to Allison before?” Vanya asks him. He nods, as he goes outside to the corridor. 

There was still something missing- since Vanya’s powers were a newfound discovery, then maybe,  _ maybe- _

No, no it can’t be true, it shouldn’t be. Five knows what caused him to get stuck in the apocalypse, it was his powers, the overexcitement to  _ get out, _ get out of the wretched house and to explore all of the unknowns, the wonders of time travel. He was too ignorant, too naive, too scrappy to understand exactly what was at stake. 

And the result would have been similar in Vanya’s case. If her powers got too out of hand, then- then, it could lead to the destruction of everything. 

Putting Vanya back in the cage wouldn’t do anyone any good in the long run, Five knew that for sure at the very least. All the bottled up emotional trauma would spill over eventually, resulting in the apocalypse. He loves his sister, he really does, but if they’re going to do anything important, then all of his siblings have to help her, not just him. Five knew that he couldn’t work alone in this situation. He had done everything by himself for the majority of his life, and he was just  _ so tired _ of it. Before, he knew it was for the best. In the apocalypse he had no choice but to be alone. Delores helped him, but after a while, she stopped talking as much from time to time.

The house goes quiet, and he can feel the spray of ash sticking to his blazer. There’s fire, the rubble is smoldering, debris dancing in a tornado around him.

It all gurgles into Five’s mind unsteadily, and it’s  _ too much, _ too acrimonious for a boy to handle. 

He spatial jumps to his room in one swift movement, stumbling and grabbing a pen and paper, then back to the corridor outside Allison’s room. In the meantime while he’s waiting, he might as well confirm that Vanya would have caused the apocalypse. 

His equations are always a way to keep his mind focused on pure logic- it always has been, especially back in the apocalypse. 

He’s made subtle progress, though sufficient enough for the few minutes that he had, and it’s broken by the shadow of Vanya and Allison. 

Allison gives him a reassuring smile that seems to say,  _ “we’re ready,”  _ as Luther returns with Diego and Klaus.

_____

“Alright, so let’s get this over with,” Luther says exhaustedly. “Look, I know locking Vanya up wasn’t the best idea, and I know I might’ve messed up-“

“Might’ve?” Vanya’s voice breaks through the room. “I needed your support, but you chose to ignore that,” she spits out. “You’re just like Dad,” Vanya continues. 

The rest of the conversation blurs out of Five’s focus. Sitting on the edge of the stool at the bar is an uncomfortable spot to say the least, but every second is precious. He scribbles down the last of the numbers of the equation he’s working on, and pauses. 

His brows furrow with concern. If his equations are correct, then his guess is correct- Vanya causes the apocalypse. He had to double check, triple check, maybe. The recent discovery of her powers had been a definite factor, and then that would make the probability one-hundred percent. 

The chandelier starts to shake, and mementos on the coffee table topple off. Ironic, seeing that the house never had a single drop of coffee, ever. 

“Look, we need to teach her how to use her powers, to learn how to control them, otherwise the end of life on Earth will occur,” Five states louder than he expects. Looks of confusion are plastered onto his siblings faces. 

“What?” Klaus asks. “You’re saying that Vanya’s the one that causes all of this to happen?”

Five’s patience is wearing thin. “She’s the strongest out of all of us. And if my equations are correct, it only makes sense. But together, we can fix her.” This was telekinesis they were dealing with, something that would have eventually lead to the apocalypse. 

“You see, Luther?” Diego says bitterly.

“And who’s a better teacher than a band of dysfunctional superheroes?” Klaus adds sarcastically. 

“When can we start?” Vanya asks.

“As soon as we can,” Five says bluntly. 

Tense silence sinks in the air for a moment, before a murmur of agreement comes about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> five and allison love vanya the most, change my mind


	2. ii. the apocalypse always pays its debts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apocalypse.  
The word still stings in Five’s chest, still burns, as it had for the whole of his life. He despises that word, the word that brought the death and destruction to his family and to his godforsaken home. Hearing the word again is almost like stepping into the wasteland itself. Five feels everything surrounding him pass through him like a wave stretching ten feet above him, smacking him in the chest.

He must’ve fallen asleep calculating the trajectory of Vanya’s powers, because the first thing Five feels is the grainy dust from the chalk when he opens his eyes. Sunlight filters gently through the shades. 

The dust gets more dense over time, and suddenly the ash falls heavily on his forearms, and blood coats his fingers. It stains his clothes, crawling around him like a spider. The ash taunts and humiliates him. He much prefers it to fall like jarring shards of glass, cutting at his skin. 

Before he knows it, the cold porcelain of the sink jams into him as he thrusts the faucet of the cold water on to wash away the blood- the blood of his victims, the innocent lives he’d taken in cold heartlessness. And the blood of his siblings- he’d buried them before, in the apocalypse when he was just a boy. He’d held onto them, clutching at their limp lifeless forms. Clinging like...  _ as _ a weak, helpless child. He’d been running out of time, he’s running out of time,  _ and he’s run out of time.  _

There’s a quiet knock at the door, it’s ajar- of course,  _ shit.  _ He had forgotten to close it, why was he such an  _ idiot?  _ A wave of relief washes over Five when he sees Klaus. Despite his occasional nonsense; in the grand scheme of things, he’s a much less threatening figure than some of the people Five had met. 

“Hey. You ok?” Klaus asks innocently. 

Five nods numbly, not daring to make eye contact with his younger (older?) brother. When Five says nothing, Klaus says, “You’ve been washing your hands for about five minutes…” He looks at him like he’s a small, lost child in need of help. 

Help that he will  _ always _ inevitably reject. 

“What were you doing?” A pause ripples through the air, with no answer from the boy. 

“Come on, you need to rest,” Klaus says gently, turning off the sink and handing him a washcloth to dry his hands on. 

Both of the siblings walk back to Five’s room. Five staggers. The shrapnel wound was a major inconvenience a few days ago, but fortunately it has toned down to a mild burn. 

Five retreats to sit back on his bed staring at the wall intently. Eyes open a little too wide, blinking a little too fast to be alright. It leads his composure to go tumbling under like ocean waves. 

“You sure you’re alright?” Klaus prods further, gently walking to sit next to him. Patiently, he waits for Five to answer, setting his hands down on his lap. Hands steady, much unlike Five’s fidgeting ones. 

Dirt and blood claw at his throat. His heart is palpitating, but he feels it freeze up into stone all the same. He feels like he’s being crushed by the bricks and bricks of all of the buildings that came crashing down not so long ago. 

Klaus then gazes upward at all of the numbers and equations. They’re everywhere; on the wall, on the headboard and on every inch of the wardrobe, (minus the hole that was punched into it, he’d think about that later.)

“You said you spent those forty-five odd years in the apocalypse. Is that what this is about?”

Yes.

“It’s nothing, Klaus- I’m  _ fine, _ I just need to-” Five glances away and starts to get up before Klaus reaches a hand to lightly pull on his blazer sleeve. 

Five is being sucked into a dark pit by all of the wind slashing around him. And he’s falling, falling and  _ falling _ and he can feel the honed blade of stone and brick penetrate him. And he’s on top of a hill now, and faces a different kind of fear. He can see everything from far off. The world was a rotting molten corpse shriveling in on itself like wilted, moldy petals. The lazer-like sun shoots him in slow motion with its violent heat.

He hears something- mumbling, a  _ voice  _ calling out earnestly. 

It can’t be, everyone here is already long gone. Five looks around him, but all he sees is death. It continues- the voice is softer now; and he feels something brush against his hair. For a moment he felt warmth, but it leaves a prickly sting.

Five sees a flicker of a person, but it can’t be real. He reaches out his hand, to feel something,  _ anything  _ other than this desolate wasteland. His hand touches something soft- a piece of cloth that engulfs him. He’s sitting down, isn’t he? He sits, and nothing happens for a moment. 

“Hey Fivey, can you hear me?” He nods, though he can’t see anyone. 

Klaus. It’s Klaus. His vision is gradually filled with saturation. There’s no wind cutting at his throat, no debris to slowly pull him to his death. 

Klaus’ face softens. “You’re here, okay?” he says, with a charitable tone.

Five rubs his hand on his blanket. 

"All this time, and I've never realized that you have PTSD," he says sincerely. "You know you can tell me about those kinds of things, right?"

"I wouldn't tell you, because I don't even  _ have _ it," Five bites out, a slight quiver in his voice. He had just felt like he's talking to his dead body, shouting at voided air, vision narrowing in on nothing at all. It’s not a flashback it’s  _ not _ .

He feels a hand clasp on his shoulder. Affable warmth seeps through. It isn’t like constant ash that left smears on his skin, or the rigid and inhumane hold of the Handler, it was- gentle. Brotherly. Innocent. 

Five flinches- he can’t do this, he could  _ never  _ do this. Years and years worth of distance from his family was what it took to save them. He couldn’t compensate for the pain of letting them down again. 

“Wait a minute Five. You’re not alone anymore. You don’t have to go all lone-wolf on us. Okay?”

Five’s stare becomes more rigid.

Klaus wraps his arms around his small form, rocking Five back and forth like  _ the child that he is.  _ It catches him by surprise, none of his siblings have been this gentle with him in a long time. Five bites his lip furiously, all of the anger directed at himself for letting his vulnerability escape. Still, he closes his eyes and doesn’t move, taking in the bittersweet silence of the room. The peacefulness grounds him steadily. Maybe Klaus is right about all of this. 

The broken buildings start to clear away in his vision and the dust fades to the grounded green of his room. 

Klaus makes no sudden movements to chastise him for this, and although it would be tremendously out of character for him to do that, deep inside he can’t help but expect it. 

The apocalypse always paid its debts, however slow or sudden. There were days when Five just laid on his side for hours, unmoving. Curled up in a little ball because all of the wounds that he had gotten there had a chance of being lethal. He thought that he was going to die far too many times. 

But this was different. A sharp, lingering pain echos in his chest, but it isn't quite as tangible, not quite  _ physically there _ as the injuries that he had gotten in the apocalypse. He felt vulnerable, something that he hasn't felt for a very long time.

It was only a matter of time before Klaus picked up on this. Klaus, who had always been the most emotionally-intelligent out of all of them. Five silently cursed at himself for being so stupid for not thinking that he wouldn’t be able to find out about this; through his shaky hands that almost never so much as tremble and his adrift gaze that had always kept its eye contact.

After a few moments, Klaus pulls away, the same sympathetic look still on his face. It’s pathetic how it seems to wrench a small hole in Five’s chest. 

“Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I’m not goin’ anywhere. I mean- I don’t know shit about living in the apocalypse, but I think I understand a good amount of the symptoms.”

Five bites his lip in cognition. He wants to, but everytime he thinks about it, fear clogs up in his throat and anger flares up in his stomach. 

“I’m alright, and I don’t need to talk about it,” Five says.

“Don’t actually think you know how bad of a liar you are,” he snorts. His face becomes more serious. “Really, anytime you feel like opening up about it, hmm?”

There was nothing to worry about, he would be just fine on his own and he didn’t need anybody looking after him. Five hunches his shoulders and he hears the soft pattering of footsteps, stopping near his doorway. Allison holds her notepad up. Written in big, bold capital letters is: “ **READY?”**

Vanya's concert.  _ Of course. _ Five remembers seeing her pamphlet on Harold's refrigerator door.

"And Vanya?" Five asks. 

**ALREADY AT THE THEATER. **

He nods. 

“You sure you wanna come? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

No. He has to come. 

“No, Klaus-” he says firmly. “I’ll come,” Five says more softly. 

"Alright. I'll leave you too it, then," Klaus says before leaving the room. He passes Allison on his way out, who lifts her notebook one last time, which reads  **"MEET US IN THE CAR IN 10?"**

"Yeah," Five says, scrunching up his fists slightly. 

_____

The air bit at him as he walks out the infamous doorway. The black gates creak a low hum that he faintly remembers from long ago. He promises himself that he won’t make the same mistake again, leaving his family behind like that. 

He was a stupid boy. 

After much banter, Five gets stuck in the back, because “nobody is going to pay bail when we get arrested for letting a thirteen-year-old drive,” as Diego had said. Five scoffed at that, and under his breath, he reminds him that he is, in fact, fifty-eight. 

Equations still scatter around in his mind, and Five forces himself to forget them. He won’t be needing any of that now. 

The ride to the concert is fairly quick, and the bar of warmly yellow lighted orbs signals their arrival. A cluster of people idle at the entrance, dressed formally, talking away as if they had all the time in the world. The world wasn’t leaping up in celebration at the continuation of their amusements, but yet Five can’t help but realize the absence of the strenuous weight on his shoulders. The car comes to a stop, and the siblings climb out leisurely. 

_ Good,  _ he thinks to himself. His family is safe, he is safe. Vanya should be playing soon with the rest of her orchestra, he nods slowly to himself. 

Five stuffs his hands in his pockets, and walks alongside Klaus and Diego. 

The dim lighting of the theatre matches the color of the ornate embellishments framing the walls and the balcony. 

Once his family is seated, Five excuses himself to use the bathroom. The applause follows, and Five quickens his steps and spatial jumps at the back of the room. 

He’s almost halfway down the first set of stairs when he sees a familiar face- a pudgy tall figure in a suit, wearing a frown. Five freezes in mid step, but walks to face the man. 

“How did you find me?”

“Got any pockets?” Hazel asks, rather innocently. 

_ The tracker.  _ How could Five have even missed  _ that?  _ The Handler took every chance she got to knowing where him and his family was. He angrily shoves his hand in his shorts pocket and pulls out the tiny beam of light.

“I have some bad news, Five. Very bad,” Hazel says apprehensively.

Five purses his lips.

“The Commission has rearranged my task of killing you now that the apocalypse has been averted. They still think I’m working for them and…they assigned me a five-day task- not counting today to kill your family, everyone except for you and your sister, Vanya. They want to bring about the apocalypse again.” 

Apocalypse. 

The word still stings in Five’s chest, still _ burns,  _ as it had for the whole of his life. He despises that word, the word that brought the death and destruction to his family and to his godforsaken home. Hearing the word is almost like stepping into the wasteland itself. Five feels everything surrounding him pass through him like a wave stretching ten feet above him, smacking him in the chest. It’s the same feeling as before, when he was hiding away in Klaus’s shoulder, with the feeling of the wind being knocked out of him. 

Hiding away from  _ this,  _ the apocalypse. 

If his siblings die, the world ends. If his siblings die, then Vanya’s emotions will erupt like they would have if Five had not been there just a few hours ago, him dying with her. 

Of course nothing could go right for Five- why had he been so foolish into thinking everything is fine? That it would be for the rest of his life? If Hazel says anything more, it’s inaudible to the constant ringing in Five’s ears that intensifies with every waking moment. 

“Five?  _ Five? _ Can you hear me?” Hazel asks, with genuine sympathy.

He forces himself to make eye contact with the man. 

“And I’m assuming you won't go through with it?” Five manages to say. If Hazel has been anything but insincere in his actions thus far, he would have stayed true to his wishes to help Five and his family stop the apocalypse.

“No, course not. I’m still on your side. I’m just playing the messenger here, though the Commission doesn’t know about that.

“And once they’ve find out that I haven’t killed them, the Temps will come… and-”

“Finish the job for you,” Five blurts out, matter of factly, straining his voice to hide the accidental quavering. “Shit.”

“That’s right, kiddo,” Hazel says solemnly. 

“And the world will come to an end with Vanya’s powers erupting and… that’s how the apocalypse will end up happening all over again,” he says. 

“It wouldn’t make much sense for the Commission to tell me to kill you, ‘cause it was hard enough to kill you the first time, damn near impossible if you ask me,” Hazel laughs quietly. Five remains unfazed, his mind spurring with action. “They didn’t give me any other information, which is smart on their part, but my guess is that she wants to leave you unaffected, unharmed in hopes that it would be a gift to you.”

“What about Cha Cha- isn’t she coming for my family?” Five asks hesitantly. 

“Oh- that’s right- I forgot to mention- I killed Cha Cha two days ago. The Commission was pretty irritated that I did, but that’s just what the orders told me to do, so-”

“Hazel- _ I _ sent those orders.”

Hazel frowns quizzically. “You  _ what?” _

“The Commission was going to send a message to you and Cha Cha to protect Harold Jenkins, and that couldn’t happen, not in the slightest. So I sent a letter to both of you to exterminate the other.”

Hazel sighs with faux exasperation. “You’re a real stickler, for saving the world, you know that.”

“I came to realize that a long time ago.”

“And I don’t blame you.” The words come as a surprise to Five. “We gotta protect the people we love, right?” Five’s mouth forms a straight line, and he nods his head solemnly. 

“Real sorry to have to tell you all of this... and I’m sure you understand that I have to be passive in all of this. I can’t say anything since that might raise suspicion, and that would risk you and your family’s life, nevermind my own.” 

“I see. Thank you.” Five clenches his jaw, but nods again quickly. Hazel gives him a somber smile, and turns his back to head down the stairs. 

The rest of the night at the Icarus Theatre passes in a blur. Luther and Klaus sit on either side of him. Five constantly catches himself fidgeting and clenching his jaw in inner distress. His family, on the other hand, couldn't be more relaxed. All of them including Five applaud when they see Vanya in the front, and Five feels a little twinge of pride at the sight of his sister, despite all of the worry that was thrust upon him moments ago. He needs to stay here with his family to make sure they’re safe. 

Everybody knows what happened the last time that he left them.

On the other hand, it would make more sense to go back home; to figure out how the  _ hell  _ he would root his siblings from being the target. Hazel  _ had _ implied that his family’s safety would be ensured once those five precious days are up. 

He’d leave once the concert is over, he decides. The orchestra’s serenity should buy him enough time to make a basic plan of what to do moving forward. Five days isn’t a lot of time, Five grants himself that notion, amidst the irony of it all. Vanya’s powers will be more imperative than ever before, so he calculates that factor with precision. From what he’s heard of her accident with Allison and killing Harold Jenkins, her telekinesis flows with great spontaneity. He’s dealing with the probability of emotions, so he has to make sure that no end of the scale tips lower than the other. 

The orchestra finishes its last piece an hour or so later. The audience around him gets up to give their standing ovation, clapping in an exhaustingly continuous symphony of their own as Five disappears in a flash of blue. His shoes clank loudly on the marble steps just outside the theater as the silence creeps around him. Five wants to stay a little longer, but he needs to go back home to form a concrete plan of the coming chain of events. 

He sprints into a jump back to the Academy. 

This time, he teleports without failing, and an unfamiliar tug pulls at his lips that he can’t help. The dark lighting of the staircase greets him in a faint but eerie manner. The woodwork still held up after all these years but Five could see right past that at its soon-to-be disintegrating structure. 

In the comfort of his own room, Five hastily brushes off the equations written in chalk. After all, there are drastic changes to be made. There are several known factors in the equation, but if he strategically deviates from those components, ideally that would change the timeline and the apocalypse would be stopped. 

_ “My guess is that she wants to leave you unaffected, unharmed in hopes that it would be a gift to you.” _

And then he realized something- there is a reason why the Commission wanted him alive. They wanted him to know that he failed to protect his siblings, moments before Vanya inevitably kills him. The answer to his recent turmoil is simple; sacrifice himself. The Commission would have to step over Five’s cold, dead body in order to kill his siblings, and he would never let that happen, not ever. His heart skips a beat both in triumph and dread at the feat of his solution. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi sorry it's been literally six months since i last updated this but i have a good planned out idea of where this is going, so i'll probably be posting more frequently!  
the washing-hands-for-five-minutes thing is inspired by lady macbeth from macbeth. if you haven’t read it, i highly recommend it, it's amazing. also, the title is inspired from game of thrones. (a lannister always pays his debts.)


	3. iii. a rainstorm in the courtyard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five remembers the distinct sound of the violin while in the workings of equations growing up. He had always enjoyed the peaceful backdrop, slowing his mind from going at a hundred miles per second. If only he had known where all of those hundreds of hours of work would get him.
> 
> The sky clouds over, dimming the courtyard in a dark grey light. A gale of wind whistles through the air. Five looks up at the sky to see dark grey clouds encircling the house, puffing out like smoke. Visions of a dead world long gone come flooding back to him in flashes, wind howling through his mind. Five steps backwards in fear. Amidst all the noise, the violin can still be heard, clear as day, raindrops coming splattering down with each string played. How Vanya was transforming the sky from the innocent daylight to a murky grey atmosphere, Five did not know, but there’s a strike of lightning right near the gazebo which brings him back to the task at hand.  
“Vanya!” he shouts, straining his voice.  
Vanya opens her eyes abruptly, and for a moment they flash white, glistening with steel.

The lull of the silence almost sets Five off to sleep. The chronic ache of his bones reminds him that passing out will be inevitable eventually, but his mind seems to be on a permanent track of equations. 

A bit of coffee wouldn’t hurt. 

To his dismay, about halfway down the staircase he feels a cold gust of wind echo through the house as the door opens. A set of almost stampede-like footsteps follow, hurrying through the house until his siblings find him on the staircase. They peer up at the balcony in shock. 

“Wh- there you are, Five,” says Luther. 

“Why the hell did you come back here so early?” asks Diego impatiently. 

“A change of plans,” Five says nonchalantly. 

“We looked for you…  _ all over _ the Icarus Theater…” Klaus says softly, voice trailing off. 

The door closes as soon as all of the siblings are inside. Five swallows. 

“Hazel told me that the Commission wants to start the whole process all over again.”

“What whole process?”

Five pauses, blinking a few times. 

“They ensure that each of you will be  _ dead _ over the course of the next five days. One by one, save Vanya and I, so that the maximum amount of chaos can be replicated, almost just as before.”

“What for?” asks Vanya in dismay. 

“In order to bring about the apocalypse again.”

Allison puts a hand to her forehead, Diego and Vanya’s shoulders stiffen and Klaus and Luther frown as their eyes widen. A rigid silence tones the room. 

“Because it didn’t happen the first time around,” Diego says finally. 

Five nods. “The apocalypse is a fixed point in time that the Commission won’t let go of. And now that we’ve got Vanya on the right track, the end of the world would have been avoided.”

Almost in unison, Five’s siblings look down in defeat. He can’t help but notice himself looking down too.

“Which is why I came back here to figure out a stable plan to help Vanya manage her powers in the next one-hundred and twenty hours.” As long as he would be able to do that, maybe he wouldn’t feel so uncomfortably hopeless as he does now.

Five turns his back to walk away from his family.

“Five, wait-” Luther calls out. “Now you’re just going to lock yourself up in your room, hole up there for  _ god knows how long _ and then come out once you’ve solved every problem that this brings up? All on your own?” The man raises his eyebrows. 

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.”

Luther thunders up the stairs in sparring footsteps, Diego determined to keep up with his brother’s pace . Five knows that he means well, but every situation he’s faced so far could have been solved only with himself, couldn’t it? He begins to doubt himself. 

As if Luther could read his mind, he says, “Well, either way, you can’t do this on your own. It’s too dangerous.”

_ Too dangerous.  _

“You  _ need _ us,” he adds. There’s no threat in Luther’s voice, only rooted concern. 

He could see something of a gentle giant hidden beneath his leadership-complex and past actions that match those regards, but it’s his siblings that need to stay away from all of this, isn't it?

“So you can go ahead and lock up  _ our sister _ again?” Five retourts back in a whisper.

Out of the corner of his eye, Five sees Luther glance back at Vanya, face neutral, but a small attempt at an apology behind it.

“If the world ends again, at least tell me that there’s something I can do. That  _ we _ can do.”

At that, Five blinks away, free from the constant tug of his siblings weighing him down. He swears he could see their glances start to fade from behind his back. 

He should be getting back to work now. 

_____

Almost half an hour passes before Five hears the subtle sound of footsteps on the floor, the door being pushed open almost immediately as the clank of footsteps slowed. Five silently huffs at the break of his concentration.

“Hey,” Diego says. “What’re you up to?” 

“Something that isn’t any of your concern.”

“Well, you’ve gotta take a break from that  _ something that isn’t any of my concern. _ And apologize to someone.”

Five scribbles on his papers and scans the walls before setting his pen down on the windowsill. He looks down at his feet and purses his lips ever so slightly before looking back up at his brother. 

“Sorry,” he says in barely more than a whisper. 

“Not to me. To Luther,” Diego says.

Five furrows his brows. “But you’re  _ always _ disagreeing with Luther,”

Diego hums in admittance, meeting his brother’s eyes. “Yeah, no shit.” He scoffs. 

“But that doesn’t make what you said earlier today any less brash. Look, you want to save the world again? I’ll be happy to help you. And I’m sure a couple other of our disaster siblings would too. But you have to let us in a little bit more than you did the first time ‘round. Once you decide that you can do that, you’re free to come back here and tell me what you’re planning on doing. Hmm?”

Five doesn’t want to admit that it’s a lot to ask for, but it is. 

His brother waits for some kind of confirmation before Five nods curtly. 

“Great.” Diego gives him a pat on the back as the boy gets up to find Luther. 

Five finds Luther in his room, a stocky figure staring out the window at the night sky. He turns around. “Hi,” he says. “Didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“Me neither,” says Five, without missing a beat. “Look, I know that you wanted to have Vanya locked up, but that’s not necessarily the best idea when it comes to stopping her from blowing up the entire planet. We just can’t risk  _ another  _ apocalypse happening, alright? I’m sorry about what I said earlier, but…  _ I need _ \- I need to know that I can trust you.” 

Luther nods firmly, his face clouded with a shadow of regret. “What are you planning on doing about it? The second apocalypse I mean.” 

“Well, all of my equations are wrong, but I'm trying to figure out what we can do to have Vanya’s powers resurface again in time to use them against the Commission.” 

Luther nods subtly. 

“How many men d’you think they’ll send?”

“Probably two dozen,” he says flatly. 

_ “Two dozen?” _ Luther repeats. 

“Yes.” Five grimaces. 

“In the meantime, we could use the courtyard,” Luther suggests. “Seems to me like a good starting point.” 

Whatever his fading memories can tell him, Five remembers Luther sitting under the old oak tree in the courtyard in their transient free time. It could be a suitable terrain for training, given that inside the Academy walls is much too dangerous. The hazardous nature of all the trinkets that dad collected over the years marks a red flag in his mind, making use of the Academy rooms practical for later on. His father had a plethora of breakable items in his collection, yet never talked about any of them. Not like he would have anyway. Five imagines that he never spoke about the stale tone of his portrait either. Nevertheless, he isn’t surprised that the old man showcased it as a piece of modern art, even decades after his disappearance. 

Diego walks in, taking him out of his endless stream of thoughts. “Got a plan?”

He doesn’t really. Countless numbers have been crossed out, entire equations too vague for even him to grasp, therefore proving to be utterly useless. Of course, he’s already figured out where  _ he _ needs to be when the day of reckoning comes- that’s the most crucial part. But his siblings’ powers-  _ especially _ Vanya’s are giving him a run for his money. Their places would have to be carefully thought through in order to outmaneuver the henchmen. 

He needs a boatload of help, but he wouldn't be caught dead asking for it. 

Unless.... he could get through to Vanya to figure out how she found out about her powers. Clearly, Harold Jenkins didn’t have any superpowers, otherwise dad would’ve adopted him. So there must’ve been something that sent the whole chaos with Allison in motion.  _ Something.  _ Finding whatever the lead is could provide insight on the nature of her abilities, which, in turn, would theoretically help avert the apocalypse again. 

Five nods. “First, I need to talk to Vanya and find out what made her aware of her powers. That information could prove to be necessary for the next few days.”

Satisfied, Five gets up quickly, but before he could teleport, Diego puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“What are you doing? I need to go and find Vanya,” says Five, confused. 

“No, what you need is some sleep.” Diego glances at the clock. “It’s already past midnight. You need some rest so that you can feel more energized in the morning. Or whatever energy a grumpy old man has left.”

Five scoffs. He doubts that he wouldn’t be able to quip back a witty retort, but bites it back anyways. He gets up as Diego says, “and don’t make me carry you to your room if I catch you making coffee at three AM.”

Five snorts. “Alright.”

_____

At around half past seven in the morning, Five blinks his eyes open. Pale yellow sunlight shines through the green of his room. He trudges down the stairs to get a cup of coffee, hearing the distant sound of his sibling’s voices along the way. In the living room, Allison and Luther are sitting far apart. It seems like the quarrel from yesterday hadn’t done either of them any good. Nobody seems to see him silently pass to the kitchen to which he forces away a smirk. The hum of the coffee machine eases his mind as he takes in the familiarity of the bitter scent. Vanya enters the room tiredly, violin case on her back. 

“Morning, Five,” she says with a small smile. 

Five fills up his mug, greeting Vanya with a nod. 

“Mind if I have some?” Vanya says, gesturing at the pot of coffee. 

Five shakes his head. 

She fills up the coffee cup and turns towards him. “I wasn’t sure when you’d be up but I thought I’d drop by and check up on you.” She sits down across from where he’s standing. 

He nods, with a twinge of an appreciative smile. 

“And uh… I didn’t ask you last night, but… last night, did you  _ really _ leave because you found out that the Commission wants the apocalypse to happen again?”

Five hesitates, a solemn expression creeping over his face. “If it hadn't been for the time limit, I would have stayed. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for the whole thing,” Five says remorsefully, meaning every word of it. 

Vanya looks down and hums in response.

Five thinks over what he needs to do today. 

“How did you find out that you had powers when you killed Leonard?” he asks finally. 

Vanya gulps. “I found a red book in Leonard’s bag. It belonged to dad. It was where he kept everything about me. All of his experiments. Leonard he- he must’ve stole the book somehow. I didn’t read through all of it, but just skimming through some of the pages was enough to know what both of them were hiding.” 

Five looks attentive and he sits down as she continues. “It’s still at the house I think. When I finally killed him- Leonard I mean, I was so angry that I forgot to bring it with me. I don’t know- it was like I was in this… half-conscious state. The details are a blur, but what I remember is that everything boiled over until I couldn’t contain it. It was... terrifying,” she says earnestly, as she looks him dead in the eye from across the table.

Five grips his mug and crosses his legs. “We should go to the house to get the book when it gets dark out,” he concludes.

His sister’s expression stiffens. “Why?” 

“Most likely, the police aren’t there just yet, but our best luck is to go at night when nobody is around.” 

Vanya shifts in discomfort. “No- why would you want something that dad wrote?” 

Five stiffens slightly, biting the inside of his lip. “I need all of the information that I can get about your powers, and if anybody knew the most about them, it would be him,” Five says factually. “In theory, you’ll be able to use what we learn from the book to harness them to your advantage. Dad's messed all of us up. But none of that abuse will be happening to  _ any _ of us.”

Vanya nods slowly.

“While we wait, we can go to the courtyard and start to practice.” 

“Okay,” Vanya says, with a hint of apprehension. 

They walk outside to the yellowed haze of sunshine. A few clouds cover the sky, hovering over the broken statue of Ben. It’s slumped in pieces; feet from where it should have been. Five guesses it must’ve happened when Diego and Luther were throwing punches at each other during the funeral. Five shakes his head subtly. It would have been better if it had been left untouched, out of respect for Ben.

He stuffs his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “Alright. You ready?” 

“Yeah,” Vanya says as she closes her eyes. A focused look creases her face as the air stills. 

“Is anything happening?” she asks. 

“Not yet,” Five says, focusing in concentration. God, he hopes this will work. This has to work. The moments tick by in silence, each second flipping onto the next with nothing changing around them.

“I don’t think this is working, Vanya says solemnly, after a few minutes pass. 

“It will,” Five says firmly. 

As speculated, patches of clouds clear away. Brittled leaves dance around the trees as smooth as silk, in an almost magical way. The violin sings a hymn of warmth and familiarity and comfort, and for one moment, he could almost pretend that his family would be safe. That he would be able to stop the apocalypse. The wind seems to brush through the air with a certain precision, and it brings him closer and closer to his vision of home. 

Almost. 

The steadiness of Vanya’s powers eventually fades to a deafening silence, his sister’s eyebrows furrowing as she opens her eyes. Five tightens his jaw slightly. There has to be another way for this to be more sustainable. There  _ has to.  _

“Maybe if I concentrate on my emotions while playing my violin, that would work better? That way, I have specific sounds to focus on. I brought it, just in case.”

Perfect. This is going to work. 

“Alright,” says Five confidently. 

When Vanya comes back, she begins to play a soft melody, gradually getting sharper and sharper. The sound pervades the air, and he can hear each note heighten the wind that stirs around them.

Five remembers the distinct sound of the violin growing up while in the workings of equations. He had always enjoyed the peaceful backdrop, slowing his mind from going at a hundred miles per second. If only he had known where all of those hundreds of hours of work would get him.

The sky clouds over, dimming the courtyard in a haunting light. A gale of wind whistles through the air. Five looks up at the sky to see dark grey clouds encircling the house, puffing out like smoke. Visions of a dead world long gone come flooding back to him in flashes, as wind howls through his mind. Five steps backwards in fear. Amidst all the noise, the violin can still be heard clear as day, raindrops coming splattering down as the song intensifies. How Vanya was transforming the sky from the innocent daylight to a murky grey atmosphere;  _ somehow  _ controlling the weather, Five did not know, but there’s a strike of lightning right near the gazebo which brings him back to the task at hand.

“Vanya!” he shouts, straining his voice. 

Vanya opens her eyes abruptly, and for a moment they flash white, glistening with steel. They quickly revert back to their warm brown, almost queueing her gaping face to look at her brother in horror. “How the hell did I do that?”


	4. iv. the red book

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His gaze darts from Harold’s body to what lay beside him. Vanya walks over cautiously to pick up a red journal, opening it up to reveal pages upon pages of notes.  
The journal.   
“This is it.” Five walks next to Vanya and crouches down seeing the contents of the book. His father’s initials, R.H. are pressed onto the cover in a golden metallic print. He finds pages not just the number seven written on them, but the numbers of all his other siblings as well. Five thought the book only had records of Vanya, but this proves the possibility of documentation of his other sibling’s training.

It had taken a few moments for the clouds to completely clear away. Five’s shoulders stiffen as he mulls over the new information. So there  _ is _ something he doesn’t know about her powers. He forces his impatience for his confusion away. 

“I have no idea,” he says finally, swallowing back any hesitation. This has to connect back to her potentially-cataclysmic telekinesis somehow. And Harold- Five doubts the man hadn’t come across this throughout his learning. Either way, the book will be found tonight.

The few seconds of panic that ran through his mind just a few moments ago are flushed away at the blink of an eye. “But let’s try again. We’ll find the book soon. _ ” _ He isn’t  _ hopeful _ , per se; that’s quite a strong word to use in this situation, but he’ll settle for expecting. Yes, for now he is expecting of some answers. 

“But an overload of power just  _ surged _ out of me-”

“And  _ you  _ were able to stop it,” Five points out. “That’s a start at least.”

Vanya’s shoulders slump in slight aggravation. “I think I’ve had enough for today.”

“Vanya, we don’t have the time to take a break.”

He can’t do this. He needs to save his family’s asses, and there’s no way in  _ hell _ that he’ll be able to do that without making the most convenient decisions possible. What she was suggesting was an inefficient choice. 

“Five, I  _ need _ a break,” she says, sounding much more self-assured than she did before. 

He pinches his nose bridge and closes his eyes tightly. “Alright,” he huffs out finally. 

“Thank you,” Vanya says quietly, a bit of passive-aggressiveness still evident in her voice. 

Allison’s looking through the cupboard when Five and Vanya walk into the kitchen. She waves in their direction, holding up her notebook with the other hand. 

_ “DO YOU WANT TO GRAB A COFFEE?” _

“Sure,” Vanya says with ease. Five, on the other hand isn’t so sure. His sister walks toward Allison, before turning towards him. 

“You coming, Five?”   
Allison rests a hand on the counter, waiting patiently for a reply from her brother. 

On a second thought, he supposes it can’t be a total waste of time. He’d pocketed his equations, which he can work on while he waits. He’s not going to get coffee for the purpose of spending time with his family. He’s  _ not.  _

“Yeah, sure,” he decides. 

They’re outside of Griddy’s doughnuts about ten minutes later. Allison sets her jacket on a four-person table at the left side of the shop. 

“I’ll go wait in line to order the food and you two can sit here.” Vanya tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, a habit from their early childhood. Allison shows her notebook to Vanya with her order, and the former’s eyes turn to Five. 

“Just coffee. Black.”

He pulls out his equations as Allison takes a seat next to him. Uncapping his pen, Five starts to write out the first set of numbers representing the potential energy of his siblings’ powers; coupled with their total energies. Their masses and volumes are important as well, to figure out the momentum of each of their powers.

He still isn’t sure where his siblings should be. The best location for Vanya would be in the courtyard- depending on how much he knows about her telekinesis at the end of today. It’s possible that the weather-altering portion of them could only be used for a limited amount of time- a sort of extension of her energy conversion. Weather controlling or not, if objects are going to move, the most suitable place for that to happen is in the open. Without her voice, Allison’s placing in the house would be tricky to figure out- Five supposes the kitchen will be best, at least for now. Luther’s spot would be either at the main entrance or near the foyer, one of the two in the end. Diego can be upstairs near the paintings and Klaus… Five isn’t exactly sure where to put him yet. Perhaps near the stairwell- though Five isn’t sure how sober his brother is- (what was it- two days when he’d last mentioned it?) let alone being able to manifest ghosts. 

If he was being honest with himself, Five didn’t know that grabbing a coffee from Griddy’s meant staying and eating lunch here. The pinky side of his left hand is covered in pen ink, though that’s what’s expected when there’s no board for chalk to be written on, a medium that can be easily washed away. 

Allison taps his shoulder. He writes an equation down before turning his head to face her. His eyebrows slant downwards as she raises her own. Allison then crosses her arms and glares at him playfully. 

“ _ YOUR COFFEE?” _

Oh. Right. She must’ve gotten up to get it from Vanya at some point while Five was buried under his equations. “Thanks,” he mumbles, grabbing the mug in a death grip before chugging it. 

Allison breaks a smile and laughs. 

“Jesus, Five, slow down,” Vanya says, sitting herself down at the table. 

A waitress walks to their table and places three plates in front of them.

Three? 

Vanya probably ordered something, and he’s sure that Allison had an order written on her paper, but  _ he _ never ordered anything. Both his sisters wouldn’t have bothered to get him something he didn’t even ask for. Perhaps there’d been a mistake, yes, that was it. Otherwise, what’s a turkey sandwich doing in front of him?

“What is this?” he asks inquisitively. 

“I ordered it for you,” Vanya says modestly. 

“Why?”

“ _ BECAUSE WE’VE BARELY SEEN YOU EAT SINCE YOU GOT BACK?” _

Five scoffs. He doesn’t need his siblings spoon-feeding him. They’re treating him as if he’s a child, a time that he’s aged well past, thank you very much. Both his sisters look at him, concerned. Vanya’s slightly hunched in on herself, but has made herself comfortable, as has Allison. The latter has caught sight of his equations, eyes widening slightly as she picks up her fork. 

“What is that?” 

“Equations,” Five replies. He drinks the last drop of coffee from his mug. 

“ _ EQUATIONS FOR WHAT?” _

Five clenches his fist before saying, “to get us to survive past this week,” tone dipping towards brashness.

At that, Allison seized his paper away, promptly putting it in her jacket. She brings his jump to a halt, glaring at him with a look that said it was better to not get his equations back. 

The three of them eat in silence for the duration of their time there, his two sisters saying nothing about his plate having not a morsel of food once they walk out of Griddy’s. 

___________

Five and Vanya are about ten blocks away from Leonard’s house. It had been decided that it would be best if only two of the Hargreeves go, as to not attract too much attention. The sky has already darkened, cooling the air in navy blue. If they’re lucky, they won’t be seen at all. All of the houses have turned their outdoor lighting out, except for one at the far end of the street. Five tries to persuade himself not to think much of it, but he guides Vanya to walk along the shadows of the trees that line the houses. 

Just ahead of him, there could be answers. Answers as to how to save his family and stop the Commission. His footsteps clank crisply on the concrete, drumming a distant beat. 

“I’m sorry about our argument earlier today,” Vanya says tentatively, as if she’s walking on eggshells. 

“It’s not important,” Five says bluntly. 

“No, it is, Five. I know you don't realize that, or don’t want to, but it is.” The silence spreads around them, submerging the air in malaise. 

“...Can I ask something?”

Five nods. 

“Did you find out about Ben’s death from my book?

Yes.

His gut twists and wrenches at the thought of reading those words for the first time. Five had found the book about a few months after he had arrived in the apocalypse. Rereading the pages every night for weeks, ringing the meaning out of those paragraphs- it reminded him of why he could never find Ben’s body in the apocalypse. (Five had never gotten an answer about Vanya’s corpse and eventually concluded her to be dead like the rest of them, marking a place for her grave right next to Ben’s. He won’t admit all the times that he visited the graves, gripping the tombstone that burned so cold it felt like it was freezing through his skin, the ashen color screeching at his face, the numeral engravings almost slipping away from his fingertips.)

All of the guilt rushes through him now like the pain from a gunshot wound, reliving the hellish feeling from when he first heard of his brother’s death. That whispered promise he’d made to himself all those years ago comes back to haunt him, reminding him that the vow will have much higher stakes. If he had just stayed and been there the day that Ben died, Five would be able to blink his brother to safety and his death would have been averted. 

He’s never been concerned with heroic complications like Luther and Diego have, but he’s always been smarter. And quicker, perhaps. It’s silly. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered at all. As far as Five knows, no tragic event in his life stays averted permanently.

Five nods, barely. “How bad was it?” He curses at himself for making the strain in his voice more obvious than he would have liked. 

She looks down, sticking her hands in her jacket pocket. “I wasn’t on the mission, but from what I could tell, it was pretty bad. He was trying to kill a burglar and was the only one in the room, and his… his power backfired somehow. There was a second thief and he’d locked the door out of fear of Ben, put a filing cabinet to block any entry. By the time Luther was able to get through to where he was, Ben was already going to die. The newspapers said there was blood  _ everywhere _ . I wasn’t even on the mission, didn’t even see him  _ die _ , but I felt so alone after.”

Five understands. He understands what it’s like to be isolated. To have your powers backfire on you. To be stuck in a world of inescapability, a world where the only people are ones of death. He knows it far too well, and he’ll do whatever he can to keep his siblings from venturing into that plane of existence.

Which is why they need to keep moving. Every second is precious. Five looks ahead and quickens his pace. “Let’s get going,” he says as he prepares to spatial jump them to the doorway. 

“Wait-” Vanya grabs his arm briskly. “I’m so sorry, Five.” She stops walking and looks at her brother sincerely. 

Five quirks his brow in perplexion.

“I know what it feels like to be alone. To feel like you aren’t a part of this family and… won’t be for a very long time. But I can’t imagine what it was like to be alone for _ decades. _ I mean- I... I feel like I should’ve stopped you from going entirely. Surely that would have changed  _ something _ .”

In truth, Five hasn’t taken the time to think about what else might have happened if he hadn’t run away. The fact of the matter is that Five was smart enough then to eventually figure out that their dad was up to something. He  _ would’ve _ known. A feeling of dread slowly begins to trickle in. It’s no use pondering over the matter, but he can’t help but feel the familiar pinprick of guilt.

His breathing hitches on itself, just for a brief moment. Five grabs onto Vanya and jumps. 

There’s several creaks on the stairs at the entrance of the house. It’s magnified by the dark peacefulness around, added to the fact that there was nobody in sight. When Five steps forward to open the door, he finds himself unsurprised that it’s unlocked. When he steps in, he curses to himself at Diego’s idiodic crash landing, since it opened the entire first floor up to a harsh draft. 

“Looks exactly how I left it,” Vanya says as they enter the living room. 

She’s right. It looks like any ordinary living room- a lamp in the corner, a couch framing the foyer, and there’s no evidence of the police being here either. It looks  _ too _ perfect to be the location of a murder. 

Five flips the lightswitch on and sees the dining room to his right. The utter difference between the two rooms brings no shock to him, but that doesn’t cover up the fact that Vanya must’ve caused quite a ruckus for the dining room to look like  _ this _ . It’s a complete disaster- Harold’s body seems to have crashed right on top of the dining table, and there’s cracked plates scattered around. Dozens of sharp objects are lodged into the man’s chest. The fuse of the apocalypse was lying on his back, eyes looking upwards, posing no threat to humankind. And, most importantly; Five’s family. He discreetly lets his shoulders relax at that reality. 

Realistically, it would take another day for the body to start to smell. That, in turn, would alert the neighbors, authorities quickly arriving at the murder scene. Nevertheless, the weak stench of the corpse wafts its way into Five’s nose. 

His gaze darts from Harold’s body to what lay beside him. Vanya walks over cautiously to pick up a red journal, opening it up to reveal pages upon pages of notes.

_ The _ journal. 

“This is it.” Five walks next to Vanya and crouches down seeing the contents of the book. His father’s initials, R.H. are pressed onto the cover in a golden metallic print. He finds pages not just the number seven written on them, but the numbers of all his other siblings as well. Five thought the book only had records of Vanya, but this proves the possibility of documentation of his other sibling’s training. 

Sirens scream their way through the room. 

Vanya snaps her eyes from the book to look at her brother, her jaw slacking in horror. “We have to get back to the house.”

Somebody must’ve seen them sneak to the entrance and then alerted the police immediately after. Five curls his lips in exasperation, crinkling his nose bridge. He’ll be able to blink them home in no time, but he curses at himself for having this endeavour be noticed so quickly. 

Five sees shadows of the police through the windows, blinding flashlights casting splotches of white in the darkened room through the shades. 

“Quickly. They can’t know that we’re here. That  _ I’m _ here,” Vanya says urgently. The last sentence sits in the air for a few moments before Five spatial jumps them both back home. 

The warmth of the fireplace greets the two of them.

The living room is scarcely lit, and there are curtains coated in deep red draped over the windows. Five sees Allison seated near the hearth, arms crossing as she lies back in her chair. She fiddles with her marker intently as Vanya clears her throat. 

The moment she turns around, her eyes gladden. Five can’t exactly tell if Allison’s warmth is directed at him or at Vanya, but if it is the latter, it’s a strange feeling. His heart pacifies and he lets the sentiment linger longer than normally. 

Allison reaches in her pocket and passes a scrap of paper to Five. His equations. 

Five rolls his eyes. “Thanks.”

He sees his sister’s eyes bulge in disbelief.   
_“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”_

“I’m pretty sure you heard me the first time,” Five quips. 

  
  


Vanya and Allison are quick to sit next to each other on the couch, but Five walks past them to pour himself a drink. He can feel Allison’s glare from behind him, but ignores it. After the drink glugs out of the bottle, he sits beside Vanya. 

Her hands are still tightly clasped onto the book. She holds out the book in front of her, as if she’s just going to open the front page, but hesitates. Allison’s expression hardens at the sight of the bolded initials on the cover. 

_ “WHAT IS THAT?” _

“It’s Dad’s journal where he wrote about our training,” Five says. 

_ “IF  _ _ DAD _ _ WROTE IT, WHY DO YOU WANT TO READ IT?” _

“It might have some answers about my powers,” Vanya says tentatively. “Even if it’s not exactly as clear as an open book.”

Allison chuckles, before setting a careful watch on the book. 

Vanya flips through the pages at random, before coming across “Number Seven,” scrawled in spidery penmanship. 

The rest of the page read, 

_ “June 12. A controlled environment has proven ideal for the maximum impact of Number Seven’s powers. But in the face of sure, uninvited chaos, she must be trained to locate control in another form.” _

_ Trial Number One:  _

_ June 13. Placing several wine glasses in a line in front of her, Number Seven was only able to break a few of them at the sound of the fork hitting the table. For having affected only a number of the glasses, another trial was promptly performed. I hoped this would be more proficient than the last trial, and I would soon prove to be correct.  _

Dad’s approach to situations like these had always been methodical to the extreme, as Klaus reminded the family so often. However, Five is sure that the outcome of this training was anything but logical. 

_ Trial Number Two: _

_ June 13. (Cont’) All of the glasses were broken, albeit Number Seven demonstrated acute resistance on this designated training day.  _

_ However, with this second attempt, all of the glasses were broken, and a thunderstorm commenced. The weather seems to be at least somewhat linked to the telekinetic nature of her abilities; thus several tests are to be performed in the following days. Her weather control seems to be a secondary addition, but should not be treated as such. Most importantly, the monocle that I wore broke at the heightening of Number Seven’s powers. _

_ There is, however, the hindrance of her emotions. If future training sessions are to occur, she must learn to ignore this factor. The likely solution is to keep her sedated for a time, perhaps in two week increments.  _

Vanya looks at her brother and sister. “Now it all makes sense…” she says softly. “When my powers lashed out, the wind… it blew in all different directions. Maybe… we can use that the day that the henchmen come.”

Five nods. Vanya  _ will _ become an asset, and not a liability like dad tried to make her. 

His deep gaze settles on the flames as he brings the whiskey to his lips. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not a physicist or anything so i sorta made up the physics part of this as best i could gdfddfhfdsa  
anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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